title: Impaired automatic and unconscious motor processes in Parkinson's disease.
abstract: While it is increasingly recognized that voluntary movements are produced by an interaction between conscious and unconscious processes, the role of the latter in Parkinson's disease has received little attention to date. Here, we administered a subliminal masked prime task to 15 Parkinson's disease patients and 15 age-matched healthy elderly subjects. Compatibility effects were examined by manipulating the direction of the arrows and the interstimuli interval. Analysis of the positive compatibility effect revealed performance differences between the most and the least affected hand in Parkinson's disease patients. Additionally, patients did not show the same tendency toward a negative compatibility effect as compared to elderly controls. These novel findings provide evidence supporting the role of basal ganglia circuits in controlling the balance between automatic motor response facilitation and inhibition.
authors.affiliation: Movere Group, Cyclotron Research Center, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium. kevin.dostilio@ulg.ac.be
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: D'Ostilio
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cremers
authors.forename: Valérie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Delvaux
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sadzot
authors.forename: Gaëtan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Garraux
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000503:physiopathology*